MacBreak Weekly 1005: Best of 2025

Summary

MacBreak Weekly 1005: "Best of 2025"

Date: December 30, 2025
Host: Leo Laporte
Guests: Alex Lindsay, Jason Snell, Andy Ihnatko, others

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Overview

This year-end "Best of 2025" edition of MacBreak Weekly brings together host Leo Laporte and long-time panelists to reflect on major Apple news and debates from the past year. The episode is part celebration, part nostalgia, with a strong current of farewell as founding panelist Alex Lindsay prepares to leave the show for a new role at Apple. Key discussions include Apple's shifting iPhone lineup, the rumored discontinuation of the SE model, technical deep-dives into new hardware, amusing tangents on product design, and heartfelt recollections of nearly two decades on the podcast.

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Major Topics & Key Insights

1. Apple's iPhone Strategy for 2025

• Discontinuation of the iPhone SE and Introduction of the 16e
  • Apple ends its budget iPhone segment, shifting attention to the 16e as the new entry point.
  • The 16e debuts at $600, significantly higher than the outgoing SE.
  • Panelists debated Apple's motives, the impact of inflation, and implications for users in developing markets.
  • Quote:
    “It’s a damn shame, but it’s okay that Apple is no longer making a budget phone. The 16e is definitely just simply the least expensive iPhone in the lineup.” —Andy Ihnatko (02:11–02:41)
• Components & Chip Binning
  • Discussion on Apple leveraging “binned” A18 chips—lower performing chips that didn’t make the Pro cut—for the 16e.
  • Jason Snell points out Apple’s long-term silicon allocation strategy across iPhone, Apple TV, and iPad lines (09:28).
• Price Spread and Global Market Impact
  • Apple is less concerned with offering truly low-cost iPhones; the new lineup covers a spread from $599–$999+.
  • “…They don't sell a $420 phone is not really what Apple's entire game is.” —Jason Snell (05:35)
  • The 16e’s positioning in markets like China was analyzed, where Apple must compete with capable midrange devices from local brands (06:03–06:42).

2. Design Evolution and Feature Discussion

• Transition Away from Home Button and Lightning
  • 2025 marks the first time no new iPhone includes a home button or Lightning port; all are Face ID and USB-C, respectively (11:01–11:53).
  • Nostalgic moments as panelists admit their preference for Touch ID and the familiar home button experience.
• Colors and Aesthetics
  • The 16e comes in just black and white, contrasting with the wider palette of pricier models.
  • “Any color you want, as long as it's black or white.” —Leo Laporte (13:01)
  • Dialogue on the psychology of color choices and Apple’s minimalist approach for entry models.

3. Legal and Privacy Wins

• Apple and End-to-End Encryption in the UK

  • Major legal victory: Secret UK court rules in favor of Apple maintaining end-to-end encryption; details of the government's request are now public (17:01–19:16).
  • Andy Ihnatko reads directly from the judgment, highlighting open justice and wide opposition to government decryption demands.
  • Notable quote: “Open justice is a very, very important principle, and you have not demonstrated the harm that will happen if this has happened openly.” —Andy Ihnatko paraphrasing the judgement (19:16)

• Apple’s Data Detectors Mishap

  • Amusing recounting of how a glitch in Apple’s data detectors system led to a journalist accidentally being added to a government Signal group discussing sensitive topics (20:12–22:26).
  • “Oh, come on, you’re blaming the iPhones? …That’s happened to me like 11 times.” —Andy Ihnatko (20:38)

4. Apple Services - The "Snapshot" Site

• Apple Launches Celebrity Snapshot
  • New marketing microsite (snapshot.apple.com) shows Apple-related content by celebrity.
  • Panelists lampoon the slow, "conveyor belt sushi" UI and lack of search/organization.
  • “If you don’t like Seth Rogen, you gotta spend 18 seconds thinking about how much you don’t like Seth Rogen.” —Andy Ihnatko (25:21)
  • General consensus: useful concept, annoying presentation.

5. iPhone Air, Plateau Camera Bump, and Hardware Advances

• Introduction of the iPhone Air
  • The show discusses Apple's new slim model, the “Air”, featuring a new, highly prominent “plateau” camera bump, A19 Pro chip, and magnesium-titanium construction (29:49–32:29).
  • Apple’s marketing is targeting the Air as a thinner, not “lesser,” flagship.
  • “This is not a lesser version… this is a smaller, thinner version of the iPhone. You’re going to get… the fastest CPU in every smartphone, more durable than any previous iPhone…” —Andy Ihnatko (31:32)
  • Faster charging, improved battery management, and move to eSIM-only highlighted.
  • Bumper case makes a comeback for the Air model.
• Battery and Chipset Discussion
  • Detailed comparison of battery life and processor/GPU differences across models (43:26).
  • New dynamic power adapter offers 40W/60W fast charging up to 80% before slowing down to protect battery health (43:44–44:35).

6. Farewell to Alex Lindsay & Panel Reflections

• Alex Lindsay's Departure for Apple
  • Alex announces he’s joining Apple as Partnership Manager for 3D Ecosystem, leaving both MacBreak Weekly and his other ventures.
  • Leo Laporte and the crew share stories, express appreciation, and reflect on his impact:
    • “You were the founding member of MacBreak. You created the show.” —Leo Laporte (58:49)
    • “I can’t believe we went 19 years.” —Alex Lindsay (59:16)
  • Alex discusses Office Hours and his other projects, including live stereoscopic 3D streaming in theaters (56:52–57:52).
  • Leo reassures listeners about the show’s future and ongoing search for new contributors (58:42).
  • “Now you're going to rock and roll heaven… congratulations…” —Leo Laporte (64:38)
• Light-hearted and Emotional Moments
  • Cake and birthday balloons for the show’s 1,000th episode (47:53–51:54).
  • Amusing Mac-oriented banter about product nostalgia, design quirks, and in-jokes about the panelists' longevity and workplace habits.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Apple’s Pricing Shift:
  “These are the phones that Apple sells are the phones that are in this class, and they don’t sell a $420 phone is not really what Apple's entire game is.” –Jason Snell (05:44)
• On Device Repairs:
  “Buy a new one. You don't repair it. You don't fix it. You just consume it.” —Andy Ihnatko (44:55)
• On the End of Budget iPhones:
  “There's no cheap iPhone anymore.” —Leo Laporte (10:32)
• On Product Colors:
  “You want color, you gotta pay, buddy.” —Jason Snell (12:46)
• On Nostalgia and Milestones:
  “How did we get to a thousand? It's because of you guys, I'll be honest.” —Leo Laporte (52:15)
• On Saying Goodbye:
  “Now you’re going to be with all of our friends. So congratulations to Alex and… Stay tuned… It’s been such an important part of the show…” —Leo Laporte (64:38-64:48)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• iPhone 16e and Loss of Budget Segment: 01:46–13:20
• End of Home Button and Lightning Port: 11:01–11:53
• UK Encryption Court Case: 17:01–20:12
• Data Detectors Mishap: 20:12–22:44
• Apple Snapshot Site Critique: 24:06–29:23
• iPhone Air & Hardware Review: 29:49–47:53
• Farewell to Alex Lindsay & Show Reflections: 47:53–66:48

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Tone & Style

The conversation is classic MacBreak: casual, witty, deeply knowledgeable, and at times irreverent. Banter about product quirks, longstanding Apple debates, and fond memories of the show's history are interwoven with earnest, technical evaluations and genuine emotional moments, especially surrounding Alex Lindsay's departure.

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Takeaways

• Apple’s product strategy is moving upmarket, with entry-level devices now decidedly mid-tier in price and sophistication.
• Panelists remain critical yet affectionate toward Apple’s design and ecosystem choices, balancing applause for technological leaps with nostalgia for the past (home button, Touch ID, Lightning).
• The MacBreak Weekly community is a pillar of longevity in tech podcasting, evidenced by heartfelt reminiscing and thoughtful goodbyes.
• Alex Lindsay’s departure marks the end of an era, but the show will continue, seeking new voices to carry the torch into 2026.

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Final words from Leo Laporte:
“I’m looking forward to a really interesting 2026. ... We will see you in 2026. Happy New Year to the entire MacBreak family, from all of us to all of you and yours. And now it is my sad and solemn duty as always to tell you to get back to work.”

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Happy New Year from the entire MacBreak Weekly team!

Transcript

[A]

Hey, everybody. Time for the best of 2025. Our year end episode of MacBreak Weekly is next. Podcasts you love from people you Trust. This is TWiT. This is Mac Break Weekly episode 1005 for December 30th, 2025. Farewell, 2025. Hello, 2026. It's time for Mac Break Weekly, our annual best of episode. We've gathered the gang together and a few extra folks who stopped by along the way to bring you some of the best pieces from 2025. I'm Leo Laporte. I want to thank you for supporting Mac Break Weekly. We celebrated. Or is it next year? We'll celebrate 20 years doing the show. I think it's next year been a great run and it's been all thanks to you. I hope you enjoy what you're about to hear. Some of the best of 2025. Also in Northern California, hiding in his Fortress of Solitude, Mr. Alex Lindsay of office hours. How are we approaching?

[B]

I think. I think we're going to hit near 70 today here in.

[A]

Yeah, we've had some balmy weather, haven't we?

[B]

Next couple days.

[C]

Weird.

[B]

I don't. Yeah, my. I don't. My daughter and I both enjoy cold weather, so we're kind of like the end of the good. The good times are gone.

[A]

It's funny, we're talking about the weather like old friends who have nothing to say to one another.

[C]

You know, Mike Hurley on the Upgrade podcast, he had to make a segment called Snell Talk where we talk about something other than the weather that is suggested by a listener because otherwise it was always going to be the weather. So we're steering out into the skid. Steer into the skid. Right. There's a new iPhone.

[A]

There's.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, there is a story, kind of. There is a story.

[D]

We could go. It's being sold as an iPhone. That's technically correct.

[C]

It's made from various old parts and one new part and sold as a new iPhone. Yes.

[A]

Bloomberg. Mr. Mark Gurman says Apple is abandoning the smartphone budget market with a 16E. It's true. It's $600, $179 or $170 more than the old SE.

[D]

Yeah, I'm keep trying to figure out how I feel about that. I think what I've landed on after a week is that it's okay that it's a damn shame, but it's okay that Apple is no longer making a budget phone. The 16e is definitely just simply the least expensive iPhone in the lineup. I'm sure we'll talk about it. But it's also like, yikes. I mean, I don't know. I've been spending the past few days comparing what $600 in an iPhone 16e will give you versus what $600 in a Google phone or Google Pixel phone or a Samsung phone or a nothing phone. And Android will give you, they're, they're, they're much bigger. You get a lot more value in the, on the Android side of the fence, even if you don't want to go as low as 3 or $400. And I just, I'm just trying to figure out exactly who the 16e is for and I haven't decided yet what it is.

[B]

I guess my question, my question also is though is how many people now I buy the phone? Like I just buy the phone and then I trade them in, I do whatever. But it seems like a lot of the carriers are giving you the phone. I mean, all the way up to a 16 Pro with, you know, with your membership. So I don't know. I think part of this whole thing is that a lot of people are eligible for upgrades or they're getting them with their service. And so I'm not sure that the number, I don't know how many people are paying for that in cash. Again, I pay for mine in cash, but I don't know how many people do that in different countries.

[C]

It can be different but like, I think, you know, here's. This is going to be terrible because it's nuanced, but Ben Thompson at stratacary. I know, I mean, I'm not going.

[D]

To listen to this garbage.

[A]

Can we talk about the weather instead, please?

[C]

And what Ben Thompson at Stratacheri pointed out like he did, he looked at iPhone SE prices using, you know, basically taking inflation out of it, right? So that you could either real, real cost. And you think that he's winding up to say, see, it's actually about the same. It's not, it's still a price increase, it's just not as much of 1 as, you know, the 40% price increase makes it look like a lot. But I will say I think a couple of things are going on here. One is Apple really wanted to move their entire phone line to the essentially seven year old iPhone 10 platform where you've got OLED, you've got the notch. So it's really is the iPhone 10, you've got Face ID instead of making Touch ID, they've, they've had that on the production line for a long time. But it's probably more expensive than the old face or old touch ID and and non OLED display was. And there's that and then there's Apple intelligence which love it or not like Apple has decided all of its new models have to have Apple intelligence.

[A]

I think that's the reason.

[C]

And so you put, I think you put those two things together and, and the bill of materials for this thing is way higher than the old SE was. And you know what, Apple is just they're not going to turn down their traditional profit margin on hardware. They're just not. And so here we are. It does create an interesting kind of like you know 5996997998999 kind of price spread on new on iPhones that Apple is currently selling. But and the other thing Ben Thompson pointed out is if you look we've all been feeling like the SE was a good way for Apple to have an entry into sell phone in some markets that do not have the buying power of the big industrialized nations. The evidence is not as strong on that count. And this may also be Apple sort of admitting that they, these are the phones that Apple sells are the phones that are in this class and they don't sell a you know, a $420 phone is not really what Apple's entire game is.

[D]

Yeah, two questions I was talking to.

[A]

Two questions, hold on. Is this an example of Apple preparing ahead of time for incoming tariffs? Like they want to build the tariff in.

[D]

I can't imagine that they would have done that three years ago. I think, I think that they avoided.

[A]

Tariffs three years ago though.

[D]

Yeah, well but I think that this.

[A]

Is, they'll avoid them this time.

[D]

I you know I just think that this is more of a world phone. I was talking to another analyst a few days ago who was had was developing the theory that one, it's not a single market phone by any means but part of the mandate of the 16e was we have to have a phone that will compete in China where we have, where they have amazing, not cheap, not necessarily cheap phones but mid level phones. And so that this if it's okay, it's okay for Apple to be the hey, you want to buy. You thought you wanted to buy a Huawei phone but for even $100 less you can get the prestige of this wonderful luxury brand.

[A]

Apple tariffs with China. Right. So they don't have to worry about that.

[C]

Yeah, I mean Apple could reprice it later if they really need to but I think that that's one of the Things. That's why they call it money, I would say. I would say it's a little bit here, right? I would say, you know, instead of that's why they call it money. I would say that's why they have the profit margins. That's like they can afford some fluctuation and they do that. They talk a lot about how they get hit by foreign exchange a lot. Tariffs is not foreign exchange, but it's a similar kind of idea cost, that can happen. And that, I mean, honestly, that is one of the things they do with having their margins where they are, is they don't have to float the prices internationally as much as you might think that they do. I'm sure if they got hit by tariffs, they would figure out a way to deal with it. I don't think that's the story here. I think that this is the convergence of wanting to go to an OLED face ID platform where I think that hardware is more expensive. Even now I think it's more expensive than what was on that model and having to do Apple intelligence because they.

[A]

Want like brain parity.

[C]

Yeah, they have to. They don't want to sell a phone to people who might, at this price point, you know, buy it for five years and say, yeah, but this doesn't have all of the stuff we've just been advertising to you for the last.

[A]

There are some concessions, there are some things missing. But let me get to the second question, then we'll talk about what's missing. Second question is, do they not still sell older iPhones at a lower cost? Are those off the.

[D]

Not really. Yeah, they're all in the US, just.

[C]

The 15, which is $100 more than this.

[A]

Oh, so there's nothing cheaper than this.

[C]

Now the 14 was at this price point, I believe, or was at the 100 up price point and they replaced the 14. I. I was talking to my colleague Dan Moran about this last week and he suggested it's possible that they're even literally using the production line for the 14 to make this phone. Right. You just switch, flip it over because they were selling new 14s even though it's a 2 year old phone and they are still selling new 15s and that's how they get that 100 up price point. So with no Apple intelligence support, which is kind of weird, but yeah, yeah, you got to do what you got to do.

[A]

So I think the other thing, the benefit is that these look like binned A18 chips. In other words, A18s that were made for the Pro, but Didn't pass muster because one of the, one of their.

[D]

One of their cores is one of the working. So you can sell it as a minus one core.

[A]

So, and this happens all the time in manufacture. You have, you test the chips that come off the wafer and if they are not up to snuff, you put them in different bins capable depending on their capabilities. And in this case, Apple doesn't really have a place to put binned chips. So maybe this gives them a way to sell. Maybe they have a bunch of A18s without the fourth core GPU.

[B]

I think Apple doesn't really talk about what's in the Apple TVs.

[C]

Right?

[A]

Well, yeah, exactly. Yeah, they're convenient.

[B]

That's the bottom bin.

[C]

It's all part of their plan too, right? Like, I mean, the story about Apple Silicon, we can talk about this a little later with the one new thing that's in this phone. But part of the Apple Silicon plan all along is Apple knows where they're going to use those chips. They know what models they're going to go in. And I think at this point, they know where they're going to use the binned versions of those chips too. And they've got a whole little strategy of this will go in the Pro phone and this will go in the non pro and this will go in the E, and this will go in an Apple TV or an iPad. And they have this kind of plan about where all of those chips, including the ones that are, you know, tossed in the bin, are going to go.

[A]

So they did discontinue the se, right. So that's gone.

[C]

And the 14.

[A]

Yeah, interesting.

[D]

That is a little bit heartbreaking. $430 for an iPhone to get you in the door. Either to get you in the door or to make sure that everyone in your family can use the same services, the same content, the same physical controls. I thought that was a pretty important thing.

[A]

But you've always said that, Alex, that the kids get the, the cheaper iPhones.

[B]

Oftentimes they are they.

[A]

What a family. There's no cheap iPhone anymore.

[B]

Well, I, I think, I think that some of the math might also be that they look at what you end up buying because whatever the base price is, you go in and go, oh, it's 4, 4 49. That gets you in the door, as Andy said. But then you, but by the time you go, oh, I really need a little more ram or I need a little bit more that they're seeing better best. Yeah, yeah. So they, So I think that they oftentimes find that people aren't buying that. That lowest cost one. And if they are, oftentimes they're shifting over to lower, even lower cost Android phones.

[A]

So there are two things gone now from the Apple lineup. One is the home button. There are no Apple iPhones that have home buttons anymore, which is unfortunate.

[B]

I really, I still like the home. I still like the fingerprint better than the eye, than the facial.

[A]

I do too.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And actually, I really use the fingerprint on the iPad mini. In fact, when I need to use my password manager, I prefer to use the mini because I can use a fingerprint instead of. Especially in bed at night, going like this. And the thing is, I was wearing this hat.

[D]

Make me raise my head, and it.

[A]

Didn'T know who I was.

[C]

So it, you know, Whoa, where'd Leo go?

[D]

Someone broke into the studio with. With Leo's credentials.

[A]

You see?

[D]

You see?

[A]

Even you don't know who the hell I am when I wear that. So I miss that. And the lightning. This, there's no more. The only thing with lightnings. Are they still selling the. I know. There's nothing with the lightning anymore, right?

[E]

No.

[C]

No, I think that's it.

[A]

Throw out all your lightning cables, kids. You don't need them anymore. Unless you had some old AirPods or something.

[D]

And there's a third one, although technicality, the iPhone 14 was the last iPhone, pretty much the last device Apple was making that was sold in a Project Red configuration.

[A]

Oh, that's sad. I love those red phones.

[D]

So the Project Red line is not completely done. You can still buy a Project Red iPhone 14 case, but yeah.

[A]

Oh, well, it may be back.

[C]

Who knows?

[B]

It may be.

[C]

You know, I love what they said about, about the 16 in terms of the colors. It says so much about Apple's attitude toward this. It's like, yeah, look, iPhone 15 comes in lots of colors. IPhone 16, lots and lots of colors. Oh, the 16e. Well, you can get it in black or white.

[A]

Is that it?

[D]

Really?

[C]

You want color, you got to pay, buddy. Color, got to pay.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Simplify the line. It probably also looks at what the vast majority of people, they're aiming for the middle. I bet you it's. I bet you they're hitting 90% of the market.

[C]

Unobjectionable, black and white. Uninteresting, but unobjectionable.

[A]

Any color you want, as long as it's black or white.

[C]

Not colors.

[B]

I oscillate myself between dark gray and black. Those are the two. The two that I generally buy.

[A]

Yeah. Actually, what color? I don't even know because I have a case.

[D]

I was only there for every.

[A]

It's that green thing.

[D]

There was one time that I bought, like. You know what it was like? It was that winter in New England where it was absolutely. We were getting dumped with snow every three days. It was never ending. And, like, sometime around January, I said, you know what? I need a little color and some bright. I'm gonna get a pink phone case. I got this lovely pink phone case, and I loved it until I was taking pictures with it. And the. The.

[B]

The.

[D]

The. The pink. If there's any kind of a reflection, like in a shot, it will show up in that reflect. So that's why. That's why it's. It has to be a black case for.

[A]

I have the same problem with this hat, actually. I. I don't understand why.

[D]

Who are you?

[A]

He got back in.

[D]

Lockdown. Lockdown.

[A]

I got this on vacation.

[D]

That does look like that. That checks out. That does look like a hat.

[A]

That's vacation for people who are listening. It's. I don't know.

[B]

How would you describe.

[C]

It's a very stylish one of the.

[D]

Pope's Swiss Guards clubbing later that night.

[A]

It looks like I designed. This is what it looks like. It's an AI Watermelon. Hey, don't let me interrupt. I know we're having a blast here reliving 2025, but I thought this would be a good time to mention something we do every year around this time that's very important to us and to our ad sales. It's our Twit Survey. We do it because we don't really. And no podcast does know anything about you. That's, I think, a good thing. We respect your privacy, but we also would like to know a little bit about you to the degree you're willing to help us out. Just some basic information that helps us go to advertisers and say things like, well, 80% of our audience is it decision makers, that kind of thing. That's why we do this annual survey should only take a few minutes of your time, as I said, is one of the ways you can contribute to keeping TWIT on the air. If you would like to, before too long in the next couple of weeks, do it now while you're watching. Go to TWiT TV Survey 26. It's our annual 2026 TWiT listener and viewer survey. It's very important to us, and I thank you. I really appreciate. And of course, if you don't want to do it or there's questions you don't want to answer, that's fine too. But any way you can help us out? We appreciate it. All right, now back to the show.

[F]

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[A]

Hey, there is a victory for Apple. Congratulations in England. Remember, this is actually a fascinating story. For a long time, Apple couldn't say anything about a request by the English government, the British government to remove end to end encryption. Not just in the UK but everywhere. Apple said. Well, no, in fact, not only well, Apple didn't say anything, but they did withdraw advanced data protection from the UK which everybody saw as a confirmation. And then we heard and we talked about it. I think last week that there was going to be a court hearing again, a secret court hearing. Apparently the secret court has now ruled against Yvette Cooper, who is the English regulator on Apple encryption. This is from the Telegraph. The Telegraph and nine other organizations successfully challenged an attempt to keep the secret. The details of Yvette Cooper's legal battle with Apple. I guess in England the name Yvette Cooper is well known. It's not here in the US So I apologize to our American. I don't know who she is. Apple is challenging a technical capability notice. Now we know it's official, issued by the Home Secretary. Is she the Home Secretary? Maybe that's it.

[C]

Yes, she's the Home Secretary.

[A]

Okay, there we go. Demanding that the tech giant break the advanced data protection feature that encrypts iPhone backups, Lawyers for the Home Secretary had applied for a gag order which would have prevented the bare details of the case from being made public. They augured. And revealing details would be damaging both to public interest. I'm not sure how that is. And national security. Well, I guess if it damages national security, it damages us all. Anyway. On Monday, the Lord Justice, President of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal dismissed the Home Secretary's application, saying, no, you don't get total secrecy. So now we know a lot more than we did before. We know, for instance, it's true that they did demand that. Yeah, yeah.

[D]

The judgment is something like I've got in front of me right now. It's like nine pages long. And basically the judge patiently says that we acknowledge that it is possible for the claimant to correctly insist upon secrecy, but open justice is a very, very important principle, and you have not demonstrated the harm that will happen if this has happened openly. It's also a murderer's row list of people who have, like, objected to this, to this action of decrypting iCloud. ICloud content, news providers, politicians on both sides of the. Both sides of the ocean, essentially citing that there is enormous amount of interest in people who are affected parties who want observation and participation in this process and that they will be denied participation in the process if this is not done openly. So that's a timeline of all the actions that were taken. So it's good stuff. They lost, lost, lost. At this point.

[A]

Yeah. But Apple does have to take a little heat because it turns out it was Apple's fault that the editor in chief of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, was added to that. Not war plans signal messaging group. It was all the iPhone's fault.

[C]

I mean, maybe. I think probably it has the ring of just being so.

[A]

It does feel kind of.

[C]

I was dumb enough to be true. I think.

[D]

I think everybody in this conversation and listening have the same reaction, which is like, oh, come on, you're blaming the iPhones. Oh, they're saying that data detectors incorrectly flagged a phone number as an updated phone number or something and changed it. Like, yeah, that's happened to me like 11 times.

[C]

Exactly.

[D]

Every time I can read the article before.

[C]

The idea here is during. During the campaign, there was somebody who has forwarded a request from Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic to. For a comment, and a press officer in the communications group sent it to the guy who became national Security adviser for him to comment. And therefore, that person, the press, the communications person, sent texts containing Jeffrey Goldberg's phone number to Waltz. And Waltz, Waltz's iPhone, apparently, was like, hey, communication person has a new phone number. Do you want me to add that to the contact? Fast forward many months, and he's in Signal, trying to add people to his. We're going to bomb the Houthis chat. And he puts in that guy's name because he's in the communications group at the White House, but it's Jeffrey Goldberg's phone number. And that's how Signal works. And it goes, that's. And I know there are people out there are like, oh, this is all just a scam. What's really happening here is that he secretly was passing information to Jeffrey Goldberg and he's just trying to hide it. And I guess that could be true, but this feels right. This feels like it's the answer, which is it was bad metadata, bad data in your contacts. And we've all seen that. Like, hey, I'm going to be helpful. Would you like to update this information? And it could go wrong that easily. Of course, the answer is to not use your phone and use the secure systems that the government provides for you. But we already kind of blew past that one.

[D]

This is like saying, it's not my fault. I had. I had the Canadian invasion plans, like, in the backseat of my car. I. I went into Walmart for 10 minutes and someone broke in and stole them. It's the fault of the person who broke into the car. Say, okay, Doncus, why did you have a copy of the battle plans in the backseat of your car?

[A]

It's the car's fault. It's the car's fault.

[D]

You're gone from like, being this much an idiot to this much an idiot, which is good progress, but you're still this much an idiot.

[A]

Maybe Apple will change how that works. Although it is a convenience, when it works properly.

[D]

Yeah, but isn't that, like, one of the most the things that technology and computers and software does that can really get me super, super angry is when it makes a decision that it thinks is in my best interest without being really transparent about what it's doing for me, and B, allow me to quickly verify and undo it. It was true when my autoreverse Cassette player would continue to reverse and reverse and reverse, and it's TR. Every time I say, wait a minute, why did you delete? Change all of the. All of the markdown formatting of this document into rich text. Oh, because we want it to look pretty. I didn't ask you to do that. Because now I can't export this into the. Into the next app.

[A]

She's trying to be helpful. Andy, you've got to accept help from.

[D]

Trust me, this is going to be better. You'll just trust us with that.

[A]

Just trust us. We know what's best for you. What is this thing that Apple is launching? The celebrity snapshot.

[E]

This website is one of the most insufferable. Only because, like, I would almost like it. Basically what you can do is go to this website, click one of these faces, and it will tell you what Apple music is available by them, what Apple TV shows they're in, even what Apple podcasts they've been in, which is kind of cool.

[A]

Oh, it's just their connection to Apple.

[E]

Like, yeah, if you click one, you'll just see all the Apple stuff. But you can't search. There's no. Just like straight text list of people's names. So if you, like, miss Messy or whatever, you have to, like, wait till he slowly comes around.

[A]

Slowly scrolls back.

[E]

But it is kind of cool.

[D]

It's like a sushi restaurant on conveyor belt.

[A]

Conveyor belt Sushi.

[E]

But if you go to the bottom, there's like, you know what podcast interviews they've in. And you can go to that episode of.

[A]

It's called snapshot.apple.com. and it's just. You're right. So I can't, like, I have to wait till.

[E]

Yeah, you can't drag. You can't scroll. You just have to wait till it slowly rolls.

[A]

Thought this was a good idea.

[E]

Well, at the Apple podcast, I mean, I like the. Like, if I want to see an interview with Messi or Capelan Chet, like, yeah, that's cool. I'd be curious what, you know, so if they curate that stuff.

[A]

But yeah, but it's got to be moving and there's no way I can. I just have to sit here and watch.

[E]

Just gotta wait.

[A]

This is a marketing thing, not a. Not a tool of anything.

[D]

And if you don't like Seth Rogen, you gotta spend 18 seconds thinking about how much you don't like Seth Rogen.

[A]

And why are they putting Drake in that jacket? That's the meme. The meme Drake.

[D]

I didn't think about that. That's a little weird.

[A]

Is that the best you could. Some people are in little dots. Some people are full. Full tile. It's just this is. Whoever designed this.

[B]

My guess is, is that with some of those, they, they didn't have an image that they felt like was good enough to do something outside. They put it in the dot when they didn't have. I mean, as someone who's had to.

[A]

Do lots of this poor Jennifer anist a dot. The Beyonce gets a full tile with a horse.

[B]

Probably because they had done.

[D]

Because she's the queen.

[A]

Leo.

[B]

Well, probably had a different photo, a better photo or whatever they could do.

[A]

It's not even a good photo of Jennifer Aniston, I might add.

[B]

Yeah, I'm sure.

[A]

Which haircare is orange?

[E]

It does look like they pulled that off Google Images or something. That's kind of weird.

[A]

Well, they had rights to it, obviously.

[B]

Obviously. You reach out to the, to the, to the artist management and they send you something. And then, and then now what will happen is the artist management will ping Apple and go, hey, what's the deal? And Apple will send me a better photo. And then they will. And then it'll update.

[D]

This is how this works.

[B]

I'm just telling you.

[A]

Watch, Watch all of them. I am calling for Brie Larson. I'm with Brie Larson's team. That is the worst picture ever.

[B]

Apple, Apple will go back and go, oh, we're really sorry. We're happy to have her come into one of our studios. We'll do a photo shoot with her and we'll put up something nicer and they'll go, oh, that's so great. And, and let's Apple chit chat with them and talk to them.

[A]

It's, it's, it's, it's worth sitting here to watch this incredibly slow scroll just that Bad Bunny is full screen where Ariana Grande is not even a dot. What the hell's going on there? Just a light.

[D]

That photo is at least two noses old. You need updated, man.

[A]

Yeah, really.

[B]

It's probably the image again that they had from their, from their management.

[A]

And would you know that Roger Federer was a tennis player from that picture of him in his suit and tie? I don't know. Hi, Elton. That was a few years ago.

[E]

I've never even gotten this far. I've never let it slow this far.

[A]

I didn't realize.

[C]

I didn't realize.

[E]

Elton John.

[A]

I want to know if there's an end. But poor Lady Gaga is having a bad hair day.

[C]

Jeez.

[E]

So they have Way more than you can just see. That's like just put a full list. Just do an alphabetical list.

[A]

Yeah, there's no fast forward, there's only a pause button. Like, oh, it's moving too fast.

[B]

It was a crazy idea. Like why can't you just jump to the next window, you know, or just, just swim, you know, just. Yeah, it's nutty. It's a nutty design.

[D]

You think this is a way to basically get people more engaged in all of their services? Like maybe people are using Apple TV but they're not using Apple podcasts. So let's try to engage in way and if so, how would that be an answer? But I'm with you, Steven. It's like I'm trying to figure out what. I don't think it's bad, I don't think it's stupid. I'm just saying it's well done for what it is. I just don't know why it exists.

[A]

Does it go any slower?

[E]

I don't know where you would find that page either because it's not like.

[A]

Linked on the homepage snapshot.apple.com for those who wish to enjoy.

[E]

Right? Yeah. It doesn't seem like they're publishing it, like promoting it really yet, but it's.

[A]

Not in alphabetical order, so that's another thing. I mean, I don't know what the order is. It's just random. Can we just sit here and watch for a while? I just, I'm.

[E]

I'm way too invested.

[D]

We have a little asmr mesmerized.

[A]

Who's going to be at the end of this or what's going to happen at the end? Is it going to wrap around or.

[E]

You might be at the end, Leo.

[A]

I'm just going to stop.

[E]

Morgan Freeman's there. They put Morgan Freeman so far into the scroll.

[D]

If you make it to the end, it should be Morgan Freeman. He should say, and what is the Billie Eilish creation in reality?

[A]

That's nothing. There's not a picture, there's a black.

[D]

Thing and you can't go back. There is only forward and this is the end. I'm sorry to be the one to break.

[A]

Oh, we're repeating. Finally.

[D]

Oh, there you go.

[A]

We're back to Austin Butler and Sabrina Carpenter was the end. He's two stars.

[D]

I was just joking.

[A]

But that was Morgan Freeman and Billie Eilish at the end.

[E]

It's hilarious.

[A]

Well, I'm sure we enjoyed that trip down Snapshot Lane, everybody.

[D]

Somebody worked hard on it. They did a Good job for what they were told to do. They did a really good job. We're not making fun of you.

[A]

I think they vibe coded it. To be honest, they weren't paying much attention.

[D]

Well, people just been let go from the AI part. Apple intelligence. Maybe they just need. Look, I need to hold on to my office and my marketing space. Give me something, anything to do.

[A]

I guess I should start with. I shouldn't start with the pro. I should start where Apple started with what we now know will be called the Air.

[D]

Yeah, I wish that we had figured that out earlier on. We're always referring to the iPhone 17 Air, but it makes sense that just with. Just like with their budget phone. Excuse me? Not just with, but it makes sense that something that they may not want to commit to updating each and every year, it makes sense for them to say, okay, this is the Air, and this is the first generation Air. There'll be a second generation, third generation.

[A]

They announced four phones. They did not announce an se. This might lend some credence to the rumor that they were gonna start doing releases twice a year so that they could kind of spread the production out and spread the sales bump out. But we did get four phones and the Air is actually gorgeous. Except for a giant camera bump, which they call plateau.

[D]

Exactly.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

You know, they weren't gonna call it a bar or a bump is. No, it's a plateau.

[A]

I call it a butte because it really. The plateau is a description of the flat surface on top, but really the dominant feature of this is the rise. You've got this very thin phone, almost looks top heavy, and then this very large bump at the top.

[B]

It's a physics problem.

[A]

Right. You can't get to the camera in the.

[B]

And. And the reality is it's still. Even if you're going to reduce the number of cameras, cameras are still one of the most important part of the camera. So Most important part of the phone and so that you have to give it the space that it needs to do that. I don't think that they can cheat their way. If I could, they would.

[A]

It's not just the camera. They said we also put the CPU in there.

[D]

A 19 pro. The same. Same one as the. As the.

[B]

I heard about the kitchen sink in there. They fit.

[D]

I gotta say I was very impressed because we've been discussing for months, like, oh well, you know, there are a lot of people that might. Might not mind having a lesser phone because they like the design or like the style of it. I think the messaging at least of what they are saying. Talk about the iPhone. Air is to make it, make it, make it very, very clear at least in their messaging that this is not a lesser version of the iPhone. This is a smaller, thinner version of the iPhone. You're going to get here's. And tailing back to that opener about design. Like here is all the engineering and design we did in order to make sure there's room for a larger battery. Here's all the engineering design we made to make it, give it the fastest CPU in every smartphone, make it more, I'm quoting here, more durable than any previous iPhone, which is something that we're all going to be worried about. But having a super, super thin saying that going to like this new frame design we've got the. This new modem is up to twice as fast as the C1 modem. Uses 30% less energy. The most power efficient iPhone ever.

[A]

Using the phone they claim all day. Battery life, which is. It sounds like it's basically the battery life of the 16 because the 17 pros have much marks.

[B]

And just think now that it's that much thinner, you can now put it into a battery case that they showed.

[A]

A special magsafe battery that you could put on there. I don't even know if I get the whole point of it. I feel a lot of people are.

[B]

Going to get cases and those cases are going to be smaller now.

[D]

So that's good.

[B]

I mean they have a new. Won't be as faulty because you know, like it's. My phone is this big with the case.

[A]

Look at this ridiculous smaller.

[D]

But it's best. But it's nice to have that option that if you've. If you're going out to dinner, if you're going out day to day, you have the smaller, lighter phone. If you're in New York for a couple of days on business, it's nice to. Okay, I can slap a battery pack on with that. Makes it about as thick as a regular phone and not feel as though like I'm well again beef myself up.

[B]

The battery case that you're gonna. That a lot of people are gonna put on this phone is just gonna make it like the last phone was, but with a lot more battery.

[A]

I think you don't need a battery case. I think the idea is if you can get through the day and most people can, they do what you do, Alex. They charge it when they're sitting at the desk. The real question is durability. And they really doubled down on durability for all the new Phones, they're saying they've got more durable screens. They've got the ceramic overlay.

[B]

I just use glass front and back in one. Like my wife puts hers in her back pocket. And I just feel like this is.

[A]

Oh, you sit on this.

[D]

You're on it.

[A]

Yeah, she does. But no, don't get that crossbody strap and you can show off your. Oh, God.

[B]

I knew that's the new fanny pack.

[A]

I thought it would go well with my fanny pack, actually.

[B]

You can attach it to your. What they need is a little strap that attaches to your fanny pack.

[A]

I see a lot of young women with crossbody phones. Usually they're kind of glittery and they have.

[B]

You know.

[A]

But still, I mean, there's. Yeah, I just.

[D]

And it attaches magnetically. And I'm sure we will find out by people making YouTube videos and TikTok videos about this. But how difficult is it going to be to simply come by on a motor scooter and just yank that? Just like you're taking a number out of deli.

[A]

Just.

[D]

Thank you for the phone.

[G]

I met the DMV.

[A]

Yeah, that's what. Keith. Keith512 in our Discord says crossbody strap equals please mug me. Yeah, well, no, but we know stealing.

[G]

An iPhone is only crossbody their cameras.

[A]

Yeah, I do that. Yeah. And I keep a hammer on it.

[D]

There's like a web strap and it's like attached by a really, really thick lugs. And if you try to yank it off of me, you're going to be taking me with you. And trust me, you don't want me with you on a motorcycle.

[A]

Yeah, they did emphasize that We've got the A19 Pro in here. It's not quite as fast as in the Pro phones, but. Correct. It's pretty close. They've got neural processing, they got GPUs, they got Ray tracing. What?

[G]

Ray tracing.

[A]

Ray tracing.

[D]

That was another reoccurring theme. They wanted people to make sure that this is a great gaming platform. You want to game on this phone, no matter the entire line. Our phones are great for gaming. They're great gaming devices. You want to game on this? Okay.

[B]

The funny thing is, I think the game, at least the games I play on my phone are not like ray tracing wouldn't make them any better, you know.

[A]

Well, you can get Xbox games on iPhones now, so.

[B]

Yeah. And I have to say that I don't know how many people on a small screen are going to notice the difference in the reflections that the ray tracing provides. Maybe I Rendered a shiny ship for Star wars without any ray tracing. Right.

[A]

But how long did it take you?

[G]

73.

[B]

45 minutes a frame.

[A]

A frame. 45 minutes a frame. A frame. That's kind of frames.

[B]

My longest shot was 239 frames.

[G]

Mother.

[B]

And so it took a week for.

[A]

You to render this image?

[B]

No, no, no. It would render overnight. Every night I would render it because I, you know, I worked on that shot for nine weeks. 239 frames for nine weeks. And so. So the. And people would see, like, what are you doing? You're on the same thing. I'm like, well, it's 239 frames. And everyone would be like, oh, okay, never mind.

[D]

Oh, now that's a lot of.

[B]

That's a lot of frames.

[A]

And so 10 seconds of film.

[B]

But, you know, in visual effects, you spend a lot of time. Now, I think you could probably render something almost the know, in real time, you know. Right.

[A]

This was Princess Amidala's ship, right?

[B]

The ship, yeah.

[G]

The very shiny, pretty one was.

[A]

It kind of looked like an iPhone, Air. Come to think of it.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Not to make this into too much of a rat hole, but was that. Was that 1080 resolution or what was the resolution?

[B]

I don't know. I don't know if I'm allowed to say so, but. But I think that on a show, in front of a lot of people.

[D]

But I'm just. I'm just asking because it was roughly.

[B]

It was roughly hd, which you could see. Here's the hard part is if you look at 4K render, 4K versions of both episode one and the Matrix, you'll see the difference. Where they did a lot of effects and when it was just film because the sharpness is different, you know, especially the Matrix. I went to see it at the Dolby Cinema when it came, when they did a 2323 release, and it just was, like, shocking. Like it was. Oh, yeah, because we. None of us could, you know, rendering. When you say 45 minutes a frame, rendering an HD or a UHD version would have been four times that, you know, like, so it would have been, you know, three and a half hours or whatever, a little over three hours to. To render every frame. And so it would, you know, that would have been unworkable. And so a lot of that was also calculated to go on the rat hole for just a second. A lot of this was calculated on looking at what makes a difference on film when you watch it after it's been reproduced. So you make. You strike the master and Then you make copies of those. And people, some golden eyes went in and looked at it like, where do we. What. When does the resolution make a difference so that we're not rendering any more than we have to. And so that's how the resolution was derived. But the problem is that that didn't give it a lot of shelf life when we went to uhd, you know, but it. But you wouldn't notice it in the theater when it came out because people are pretty careful about it. But you're looking. When you go to a theater, when it was filmed back in the old days, you were looking at the third to fifth generation of the film.

[A]

Right.

[B]

You know, as it was. As those were str. So that's. Now you see exactly the artist's intent from day one. And you see the same thing at day one.

[A]

Now the Grand Moff Tarkin looks like a fish.

[B]

I mean, what's interesting is again, to go. You know, I know I'm going to go into Apple Vision Pro. But where you really start to see resolution is the difference. You can really see the difference in resolution when you're looking at movies.

[A]

So do not watch episode one in your Vision Pro is what you said.

[B]

No, you still should watch it. You should definitely buy it. No, wait, I don't get any. I don't get any role.

[A]

And look for. What was the name of that character? Slag.

[B]

Tough Rum Slag.

[D]

Rum Slag.

[B]

Here he is. I got. This is my. My own. When I, When I, When. When I did it, they had me do a T pose. And I said, what's the T pose for? And they said, for the action figure.

[A]

I said, figure, of course I'm gonna.

[B]

Have an action figure.

[G]

Yeah, that would make me gasp, too. I keep trying to.

[D]

I keep trying to find it for you, but because there's a guy who's doing like a. Doing regular runs of custom like. Like Lego Star wars minifigs, and he does occasionally a run of Rum Slag. Lego minifigs.

[A]

Wow.

[D]

But I always miss it by like this much.

[B]

I collect. They had the part. They had the parts that were used to make the character on ebay. And I was so close. I was just like. I was like, 500.

[A]

Buy your old costume.

[B]

You should get a discount pieces for the character. Yeah. I wanted to ping him and say, hey, that's so that's me.

[G]

And I deserve a $300 discount at.

[A]

So not only does it have the new A19 Pro in the Slim, it has the new C1X. It's a Slim. I'm calling it the slim butt version. The promontory phone. It also has no vpl. No VPL on this one. There's no. It's not wearing panties and that's the beauty.

[G]

Okay, moving on.

[A]

It's the commando phone we call it. They have the C1X modem chip that Apple. You know this is the first time Apple's released the C1X. They had the C1 before and it wasn't quite up to the Qualcomm standards of previous phones. This they claim is faster than on the iPhone.

[G]

Extra better.

[A]

Yeah. And better battery life. That's a big deal. It sounds like Apple's got the modem locked.

[D]

Well there's also a study, I don't have it in front of me but a long term study about it was the company that does speedtest.net I think and they've been doing a cumulative study in which they've concluded of the iPhone 16 versus the iPhone 16E. Space A is a comparison between the Qualcomm modem and Apple's C1 modem. And they've come to the conclusion that depending on the network they're very, very, very close. If you've got it, it's, it's basically, it's very much local network dependent. For instance in Japan there's a very, very large gap between because Japan's networks are 100% modern on in other countries including our own, they're a lot closer because there's a whole much. There isn't a whole bunch of fat on the table to go get at. So anyway, so it's not a failure by any means and it's interesting, it'll be cool to see what the benchmarks.

[A]

Are and one chip as well. So they have their Apple intelligence hardware in there along with the A19 Pro and the C1X modem. And one of the things they've optimized for is efficiency because the battery is inevitably smaller.

[D]

Yeah. They came back to esim. What a brilliant way of messaging of saying there are going to be some people that are complaining that. Oh God. Well here's another. It's the headphone jack all over the. There are reasons why I like to have a physical sim. It's so easy to swap between two or three phones I have in the household. But they're basically saying well we were able to give you more battery life because again because we are such design geniuses we took the, the space that was occupied by that slim SIM card, that slim tray and put designed a better Bigger battery to fill that space. So across the product line, turning that.

[B]

Into a positive, I still think you're going to see Apple just slowly get rid of everything other than one big chip. You just open up the camera and there's just going to be a chip with a handful of other little things because it allows them to get smaller and more powerful and more integrated and faster.

[G]

They put so much of it in the plateau already.

[A]

Yeah, this is kind of nice. They have a little comparison if you want to know what you're getting with the current phone models. The Air vs 17 Pro vs 17. And I was asking, and you were right, Micah. The biggest difference in processor between the 17 Pro and the Air is that it's a five core GPU on the Air and a six core GPU on the 17. In fact, you can really see this is really smart of them.

[G]

I like this. This is good.

[A]

So you know what you're getting. It's pretty clear they are claiming 27 hours of video playback on the air compared to 39 hours big bump on the 17 Pro. But what's interesting on all the phones is they're claiming much faster charge time.

[G]

Yeah, they're very much touting this faster charge time because they've also released in the store a what they call a dynamic power adapter. So this is a normally 40 watt power adapter that can charge up to 60 watts max for iPhones now. So they're saying, look, even if you aren't getting that full day battery life, plug this in for 15 minutes while you go, I don't know, have a margarita. I don't know what people do, and come back and it's ready to roll, it's ready to go.

[B]

And this may be probably less technology, battery technology and more how you manage that power. You can dump an enormous amount of power into the battery until you get to a. It starts to get full. Then you got to slow down or you're going to, you know, light it on fire or reduce its overall health over time.

[A]

It's the same with EVs. With cars, they talk about charging to.

[B]

70% or 80% and when they charge that really fast, the reason they're doing that is because they're just dumping it with an enormous amount of as much as much power as they can put into it and then slowing that all down to let it cool back down again.

[D]

That reminds me, I can't wait for the iFixit teardown of this. I can't imagine what it's going to be like to try to replace a battery, let alone a screen on this.

[A]

Thing, it might be just terrible.

[D]

Buy a new one, you don't repair it, you don't fix it, you just consume it.

[G]

Specifically air, you're talking about.

[D]

Yeah, specifically the air. Also the. Also the. The pros, because they were making a big deal. We'll get to it. But they're. They're making a very, very big deal about all the reasons why they went to an aluminium unibody design. And so that's. It would be. I would be disappointed if they kind of took a step back because they've been doing a really, really good job of making their iPhones easier to repair. Basically saying that you no longer have to disassemble the entire. Every layer of the phone to get at the battery to replace it. Now you can basically just flip it over, get at the battery, replace it. Because the acknowledgement that replacing a battery is not always going to be as easy as popping by an Apple Store that's in your neighborhood. Sometimes it's like, a, I can't afford the prices you're charging. B, I don't have access to an Apple Store and I can't afford to simply ship it off and receive it back. So IFIX is going to have a. Is going to do a lot of really, really great work for the community. And with a report, they did keep.

[A]

The titanium for the air and they're polishing it to a mirror finish and.

[G]

It actually works, which I think is a travesty. I love the natural look of.

[A]

I do, too. I have a natural. My watch is natural.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[G]

I'm sad.

[A]

I agree. And I have a titanium band that's natural and so it goes nicely together. The colors are fairly muted. I'll stand corrected. Micah, if I'm saying this wrong. Black, white, light, gold, rose.

[D]

Maybe that's what we're used to from Apple.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Very muted colors. I think the white would probably be the way to go, especially with that polished titanium. I think that's pretty gorgeous. And in fact, that's the model that they show. 80% recycled titanium. That's nice.

[D]

What do we think about the reinvention of the bumper case?

[G]

I was so excited about that. I always thought the bumper case was amazing.

[A]

You missed it.

[B]

It.

[G]

I got my free one back in the day and I was really excited.

[D]

To see when Steve Jobs had that event, which basically said, okay, you babies.

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

If you insist on not losing three bars by. By holding it wrong, we'll give you a bumper case. It'll Shut you up and then make you learn about how we actually do everything perfectly. But we'll make you. Make you happy now. Now it's going to be a voluntary thing. That's the first completely voluntary bumper.

[E]

That's what it is.

[G]

They just want to make us. But they're going, remember when we gave.

[A]

You a free one?

[G]

Well, now you're going to buy one, loser.

[E]

It.

[A]

Slim and lightweight, the bumper perfectly frames and showcases the thinness of the iPhone air.

[D]

Yeah, we should have been able to predict that too, because if you're selling people on this beautifully designed super slim phone, you're gonna want to give them an option for a protective case. Whether it's the most durable thing they've ever made or not, people are gonna want a case. And you can't just trust basic like case makers to honor the. Honor the intentions of your super, super light airiness of it.

[A]

So it's time for Mech Break Weekly. Ladies and gentlemen, the 1000th episode. Happy birthday to us. Happy birthday.

[C]

Whoa.

[A]

Happy birthday. Wait a minute. Should I put it this way? Is that backwards?

[C]

No, it's forward.

[D]

Now it's.

[B]

Oh, no.

[D]

We're starting all over again.

[C]

Oh, no.

[D]

Gentlemen, I. I think Apple talk is here to stay. I don't care about Internet anymore.

[A]

You went and got flat balloons.

[C]

That's.

[D]

Yeah, I was going to get the real ones, and then the real ones were like six bucks each. And then I'd have to like, walk through the neighborhood and through the library carrying you looked like a.

[A]

So this way, you roll them up, put them in your briefcase.

[D]

Not. Not. I'm not afraid of looking like a. So long as I look like a. That's consistent with my idiom. And that would have been. Been a different a balloon, but hey, not a clown.

[C]

Hey, who you calling an idiot?

[A]

Hey, it's Jason Snells colors dot com. He's wearing the official twit kepi.

[C]

I've got the twit. Yeah, twit fez on here. I got twit hat.

[A]

It's good. Happy happy thousands Happy thousands.

[C]

Happy to be a part of the final 3% of.

[A]

No, I think more than that, really. 3:30.

[C]

No, no, no, no. Something like that.

[A]

Alex Lindsay has been here for all 1,000. Hello, Alex.

[B]

I was here in the. And I'm hearing the last one. There's come some.

[A]

So he was. Look, this is what Alex looks like on this cake. It starts like this one 1000. It's magical. Who wants a piece of cake?

[D]

I do.

[B]

Just pass it through Zoom. This is the new Zoom feature that they haven't announced that you can. You can. It's a. It's the transporter.

[A]

He's just going to blow them out here. Let's see, let's see.

[B]

Lisa is transporter. He's putting.

[A]

There you go. Oh, can you see. Can you see that?

[B]

Zoom office.

[A]

We're going to set off the fire alarm, I believe. Look at that. Beautiful. All right, just slice that. You didn't bring a plate and a cake slicer? Well, you might as well just.

[B]

Just a problem.

[A]

Oh, oh, oh, oh. Marauder. Marauder.

[D]

It goes back in the freezer for the next 1000th episode.

[A]

You know what this cake is called? Death by Chocolate.

[C]

Ah, perfect. What a way to go.

[A]

What a way to go.

[B]

Honorable death.

[A]

I'm gonna try a little bit of it. It's got double chocolate. And good News is only 280 calories per serving. Bad news is there's 138 servings.

[B]

There you go.

[A]

That's tasty. Did I introduce everybody? Alex.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Andy.

[D]

Hello.

[A]

Jason.

[C]

Hi.

[A]

So glad you could be with us on this momentous occasion.

[D]

Yes. I hope. I hope if people in Discord are going nuts that my thousand is off center. It's because I was framing myself up and I realized that if it was centered, then I would have like, mouse ears when they do the single. And I decided, you know what? I kind of want to avoid that meme. And I'll just. I can choose to not do that.

[G]

Andy, can you move your head to the right a little bit, please?

[E]

Just, just.

[A]

Just for the.

[D]

Just for the thumbnail to the right.

[A]

Just get it right there. This way. A little closer.

[D]

If I go anymore, anymore, Just.

[G]

Just fall off your chair.

[D]

Okay. Like that.

[A]

You know what we're talking about, Andrew? We want the ears. The ears, baby.

[D]

You know. You know what?

[A]

It's.

[D]

It's because I. The things I do and I do and I do for this show.

[A]

Why I H N A T K O.

[D]

Actually, that. That would. That would make me. Roy. Like that.

[C]

The.

[D]

The sort of like.

[A]

You're right.

[D]

Dyspeptic animator. That was like the grown up guy who would draw. Draw and drink.

[A]

You didn't have to really do that. I was just joking. Oh, she's making me a piece of cake. Oh, that sounds delicious.

[D]

I had. I had. I had one of the cup. One of the. One of the Mac. Break 1,000 cupcakes for breakfast.

[A]

Oh, yum. You made them. You made them. I didn't make this.

[D]

I. I made the money that made the cupcakes.

[A]

I made it happen is what you say.

[D]

Yes, exactly.

[A]

Oh, that looks death by chocolate. For sure. For sure.

[D]

I mean, if you're gonna go, if you're gonna get dessert, get dessert. Don't like, don't, don't. Don't slap at it. Just get dessert.

[A]

How did we get to a thousand? It's because of you guys, I'll be honest. It's. It's your turns out showing up.

[B]

They were like, let's do this one more time.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Number, number go up.

[C]

Sure. Lucky we got ten fingers, huh?

[D]

Everybody, I think everybody was. Just kept tuning in like week after week because maybe this is the. Maybe this is the one in which the cops will come in and shut it all down.

[C]

Maybe if we're lucky, a guy in a Max Headroom mask will exactly jam the signal.

[A]

This is what Santa's gift looks like on Christmas morning. Just a nibble. Just a nibble. And the carrot for Rudolph is gone. And. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Alex Lindsay from Office Hours Global.

[B]

Hello. Hello. Good to be here.

[A]

Now we have some news about Mr. Lindsay. They. You know, this pisses me off. Cupertino keeps coming a calling. And apparently Cupertino has come. Welcome to your door, Alex Lindsey. For the holiday season. Can you explain? Yeah.

[B]

I'll be transitioning to Apple's developer relations. So I'll be part of. I'll be the partnership Manager for the 3D ecosystem starting in January.

[A]

I hear the screams throughout the MacBreak universe as if a thousand voices cried out in agony.

[C]

So, Alex, does that mean you're going to be working with Serenity Caldwell, my old pal?

[B]

She is in the same building.

[A]

Yeah, she interviewed him for the job. What was that interview? Must have been funny. Oh, hi, Alex.

[B]

So, yeah, so, yeah, so we'll all be in the same. In the same same.

[A]

Are you in the. Are you in the campus? The ring? The spaceship?

[B]

I'll be right outside. So there's the developer relations building. That's right outside of the ring. So, yeah.

[A]

So needless to say, when people take a job at Apple, they can no longer be on the Apple.

[B]

Oh, yeah, being on Mac break was probably.

[C]

Yeah, they won't even let Serenity play Dungeons and Dragons with us anymore on Teleparty Kill. Like, it's like. No. No podcast.

[A]

No podcast for you, Leo.

[D]

Did he even try to make a counteroffer? I mean, come on. Alex is way too valuable to this podcast.

[A]

I did write him a giant check. One of those giant galaty checks.

[B]

Can't cash it. But it was giant. It was huge. I can put it on the wall.

[D]

We can give you something that Apple cannot, and that's exposure, sir.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotta warn you, Alex, when people go to work for Apple, we've seen it happen time and time again with serenity. Nathan Oliveris, Giles. So many people who've gone to work for Apple, it's like a black hole. They just disappear.

[B]

Well, I think that, you know, again, I really had to think about it a lot. And, you know, you got a lot of time to think about it while you're kind of going down that path. And I just. I think that there's such a huge opportunity with 3D, whether it's Gaussian splat or photogrammetry or how we use 3D inside of a. Inside of what we do. And I, And I everything, you know, usdz, all these things. And I felt like I can't keep on complaining about it if I was offered something I didn't, you know, and I'm constantly feel like the world just isn't using the tools the way it could. And so I'm super excited of, you know, trying to do my part into moving that forward.

[A]

So, hey, what happens to office hours?

[B]

Office hours is still right running and we've reduced the number of days during the week. Can you do a panel? I can't do it, so I'll be off. But we have, you know, it's been run by a lot of. I don't even know, to be honest with you. I don't even know how office hours actually runs, you know, like during.

[A]

Yeah, no, at this point.

[B]

So there's. There's such a huge community that's managing that. And, and the, the panel has always been there. And I had only been hosting a couple days a week for the last year, so. But what we're doing is we're still doing something every day, but when we do things in the evening for the other side of the world, we're not doing the same thing in the morning. So. So we have evening shows on. On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and then we still have the same morning show on Wednesday, Friday and the weekend. So. So it's, it's. And so it's kind of funneling a little bit, A little bit taking a little less little pressure off of the panelists because it's a. It's a lot. It's a lot to take live questions all for an hour a day. Yeah. So. So there.

[D]

But the.

[B]

But we have such a, you know, know, such an incredible set of panelists that have been, you know, doing a lot of it without me when I'm traveling and so on so forth for a long time. So I feel very. And.

[A]

And so you're leaving 090 as well, I would guess.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're just finishing up the installs for the Arena 1 project, so that's. That's been a mad rush.

[A]

Oh, that's the movie theater one, right?

[B]

Yeah. So we've been getting that working and. And, you know, we had some really big success in both, you know, getting all the theaters ready to go for. To start concerts early next year as well as we've kind of figured out how to. I got a lot of time in an AMC theater. We figured out how to do how to stream live, stereoscopic, you know, concerts, you know, to a screen without, you know, without reinventing, without making it too complicated. And so you should. Hopefully people will see the. The fruits of that. That next year where we start doing actual. You know, I don't think anyone's ever seen a live concert in 3D. You know, stereoscopic live, like, you know, 30 seconds after it was shot.

[A]

Do you wear a helmet or do you. You wear kick glasses? What are they?

[B]

It'll be sunglasses, you know, like little sunglasses that you polarize sunglasses. In a. In an AMC theater, it's using real.

[A]

D, not the antwise real D. Okay. This is real D, actually, of the. Of all of them, that's my favorite.

[B]

So, yeah, it can. It can actually work with anything. I mean, it can stream to the Vision Pro, it can stream to the Dolby Active version to imax, and it's a higher frame rate, so it looks way better than 24 frames a second. 3D doesn't really work at 24, which James Cameron has alluded to. And so at 60 frames a second, it's more interesting to watch. And it's true optical 3D, so there's no fake 3. You know, it's just two cameras that are delivering each eye some content and so pretty excited to see where that goes. I mean, it'll probably take some time over next year to make that work, but. But it's. We've did a lot of great work over this year, and I needed to finish all of those things before I was able to move into the Cupertino mists.

[A]

So we haven't found a replacement yet. I have been canvassing, and I hope we will have announcements soon. Next episode, which will be in January. Shelley Brisbane will be. It's going to be an opportunity for us to bring in some of our favorite people. But I have somebody in mind I'd really love to hire, so. And we're talking with that person, so we'll let you know what happens. But yeah, I'm sad we're going to lose you. You were the founding member of MacBreak. You created the show.

[B]

Well, it's been, you know, there's been other opportunities to do other things and how I choose my jobs has largely been wrapped around office hours and Mac break and, you know, all the other things that are, that were there. And I think that it was really just this specific opportunity was, was big enough. But it's been incredible. I kind of, I was like, I can't believe we went 19 years instead of. Because it's almost exactly 19 years. Because, of course, our first show was 19 years ago in January, February. Right. At Mac World, I think. So we're very close.

[A]

Well, my friend, we're going to keep you for the rest of the show.

[C]

Right.

[A]

You can talk about Apple. Right.

[B]

I got the rest of the show.

[A]

Last chance.

[B]

Exactly. It's my last chance. All my opinions are my own.

[D]

What a time for you to say, oh, I got a heart out at noon. I'm being fitted for my Apple 3D team Blazer.

[A]

Do you get a, what do you get as a, you know, Nooglers. Get a beanie and there's all sorts of, sorts of.

[B]

I have no idea.

[A]

Like, I, I just know something sitting on your desk when you walk in.

[B]

I'll show up. I'll show up on January 5th and find out.

[A]

So do you, do you have to work on site?

[B]

Yes, it's some days on site. So it's some days on site, some days off site. So it's. Yeah.

[A]

So I've got a drive to Cupertino.

[B]

Huh. Very early in the morning.

[A]

I did that. I told you. When you, when you told me, I said, yeah, I did that. For how long? Too long.

[B]

Yeah, I did the math or something. I did the math in Google Maps and if I leave at 5:15, it's an hour and 20 minutes. If I leave at 5:45, it's two hours. So that'll be a strong, a strong push up.

[D]

You'll be caught up on podcasts and audiobooks.

[B]

Exactly.

[D]

By, by the end of.

[B]

My family now will know when they can call. Like, I'm just sitting in the car doing my thing. So. Yeah, yeah. So that's, that's, that's in my future there.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Are you, are you sure that you're still housebroken for like office work, like at a big company.

[B]

I don't know. I don't know.

[D]

I tell people like, I'm like, do you have to bring in your own coffee mug or is a coffee mug going to be provided for you in the breakfast? That stuff like that.

[B]

My wife is like, this is the first time you've had a grown up job in a long time, you know, like, you know, and so, so, you know, so I tell people that it is a, you know, keep the, keep the everything warm because I don't know how long I'll last but we'll do the best we can. So I'm pretty excited about it.

[A]

Wow. Well, we're very excited about your new job and that you're going to be making an honest living. I hope we will hear from you from time to time.

[B]

I'm sure you will.

[A]

It won't be on the air. I have a feeling. Just really, I'm so happy for you. I think that's wonderful. And Apple is actually when you get there, if you would just mention that Leah wouldn't mind coming to an event or two at the camp. No, don't because I don't want to tarnish. Wait till you've been there five or.

[D]

Six years and then just again, baby steps basically. First Alex basically sends like an encrypted chat saying there will be a catering cart with a drapery over it by this east exit that will be taken in at 1:02pm and they don't and they're not going to be checking underneath the tablecloth. So just don't be giggling while they wheel you into the press room.

[A]

It's very fun. We're going to really miss you, Alex.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

I was very, very sad when I heard about this because I mean this is one of the reasons why I look forward to the show each and every week is chance to chat with my friends for two or three hours and having a couple hours less.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. I think for me it's been, again, it's been hard. I mean the obviously the concert thing has been 10 years of development.

[A]

Wow. You've been working on that 10 years.

[B]

Started thinking about what it would look like 10 years ago and then started doing the pitches about four years ago. And then we're just, and I had hoped to, as this all kind of came up, that we'd have our first actual public show. We've had a test show but our first actual public show before this happened. But, but it's not, we're not quite there. Yet, so. So I will get to. I'll get to be a consumer, you know, and sit and see how it, how it turns out. But so. And then, you know, obviously hanging out with everyone here is such as, you know, Mac Break has been such a huge part of my life in the last 20. 20 years. It's crazy to say 20 years. I feel very wild.

[C]

But.

[B]

Yeah, so it's, it's incredible. So. And I just, you know, I'm just so grateful, you know, to. Specifically to you, Leo. You know, like, I just, I just want to say that it's been really, you know, I. I showed up at Tech TV because someone that worked at one of your camera operators said that you might be looking for guests, you know, and who is that?

[A]

I gotta send that guy a cake.

[B]

Yeah, I'm trying to think of who it was. I think it was Dave. And I can't think of his last. He was. But he, you know, he just said, oh, you might want to stop by. And I think I came by and showed camera mapping or something like that.

[A]

Oh, my God, that's great. I remember you drawing on my face with a Sharpie. I do remember. I got to still get the pictures. Yeah.

[B]

Welcome to photogrammetry. 20, over 20 years ago.

[A]

20 years ago.

[B]

But, but I, you know, it's the. Between Tech TV and twit and everything else, so many of the opportunities that I've had over the last. Over the last 25 years have been really directly connected to working with you, Leo. And so.

[A]

Well, now you're going to rock and roll heaven. And I'm sure they got. Got an incredible band up there now you're going to be with all of our friends. So congratulations to Alex and. Well, you know, Stay tuned. Stay tuned. It's not the first transition. In fact, everybody here is relatively newer than Alex. Andy, you probably. You've been here for quite a while. We went through.

[B]

I still feel like Jason's the new kid on the ball. It's been like, what, four or five years now.

[C]

I don't even know how long it's been now. Seems like a long time.

[D]

We might have to stop calling you the Stig.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You know, so my Lauren's aunt is a Supreme Court justice in the state of Washington. And one of the things that a lot of these courts do is they have a very strict seniority policy. So when you get on the court, you have to sit all the way on the end and you also have to bring the snacks.

[B]

It's a true story.

[C]

Yes. We're gonna snack and then very gradually you get to not be the person on the end. So, you know, I have really enjoyed.

[A]

But you do often years of snacks.

[C]

I just want to say I'm happy to not be on the end. So that's nice. But yeah. Yeah. I'll just point out for the record, Google is the one who took Renee from us.

[A]

That's right.

[C]

It wasn't Apple.

[A]

No, that's right.

[C]

Big tech giants steal everybody.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, yeah. I think part of that is because so many of our hosts are ink stained wretches who are happy.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

To be getting a paycheck check and I can't really blame them for that. I really can't.

[C]

Anyway, just those of us unemployables out here.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Please stick around.

[A]

Yeah, we, we keep. We keep going. Congratulations, Alex. I hope we, you know, hear from you from time to time. I guess it can't be on the show. I wish it would, but yeah, I think it'll be.

[B]

It's a different.

[A]

Any leaks or secret inside information that we have from now on will absolutely not be coming from Alex Linsey, though, I have to promise you that, because Alex isn't crazy.

[B]

I'm used to working on secure projects.

[A]

Well, that's it for 2025 Mac Break Weekly. It was a great year. We had a lot of fun. Apple did a lot of very interesting things. We had a lot of strong conversations, a lot of happy conversations and I hope you enjoyed every one of them and I look forward to a great new year. It is a little bit. Bit bittersweet this year because we of course are saying goodbye to the man who started MacBreak 20 years ago, Alex Lindsay. He's taken a job at the fruit company. So I'm very happy for Alex. He's very excited about his new job. But. But naturally we will have to say goodbye until he. Until he decides not to be working at the company we're covering. But he's been such an important part of the show and I know he's with us in spirit for from now on and of course I will stay in touch with him and maybe from time to time we'll hear from him on the show. A very big thanks, of course, to Jason Snell and to Andy Inotko and to Alex Lindsay and to all the other hosts who filled in, like Doc Rock and Stephen Robles and Shelley Brisbane. They've really made this a lot of fun to do this show. As you know, we love Macintosh and Apple and iPhones and we love talking about them sometimes, you know, we're not. Not completely happy with every little thing. That's part of our job too. But I think it's on balance, really a fun area of technology to cover it really. It's the toy store and I like that. Really. A big thanks too to our producer, John Ashley, who puts this show together every week and technical directs it, often edits it, of course. To our head editor and VP for creative, Anthony Nielsen, who's sitting right beside me right now. To Benito Gonzalez, who is another one of our producers and editors, Kevin King, who normally does the windows show, but occasionally he'll fill in here as well. Thanks also to Burke, who keeps the studio running our continuity department. They're great. Debbie and Viva and Sebastian. They keep the ads in order and keep the advertisers in order too, which might be a harder job. Patrick Delahanty, who is our off site CTO man. Talk about a behind the scenes guy who keeps everything flowing. And our marketing team, Ty, we appreciate everything you've done to help build the audience over the year. We've seen some really nice audience growth and I think it's a lot due to Ty and of course our CEO, head of marketing, head of sales, head of everything. And my dear wife, Lisa Laporte. Thanks to all of you. Most of all, we wouldn't be able to do this show without your love and support. Thank you for listening, even to this, the show with all the stuff you've already heard. In most cases, that's real dedication. It's been a fun year. A special thanks to our club members too, who not only give us the moral support, but also the financial support to keep on keeping on. I'm looking forward to a really interesting 2026. I've got my finger hovered over the buy button. I hope you will continue to have your finger hovered over the play button button. We will see you in 2026. Happy New Year to the entire MacBreak family, from all of us to all of you and yours. And now it is my sad and solemn duty as always to tell you to get back to work. There's some eggnog to be drunk. We'll see you next year. Happy New Year, everybody.